[pct-l] Update: The Mojave River

[mardav at charter.net (Marion Davison)]

We did our first survey hike this morning.
The good news is, the water has run on down the river, and the roads are 
open.  (There is a "road closed" sign and a barricade at the bottom of 
Hiway 173 where it meets Summit Valley Road, but vehicles have made a 
dirt detour around the barricade.  There are some landslides across the 
hiway so it is one lane wide in spots until you reach the PCT parking area.)
We hiked from the hiway 173 crossing to the crossing of Deep Creek this 
morning, behind the Mojave Forks Dam.  The water has gone down, and both 
the river and the creek are near normal size for the spring.  But the 
ultimate high water line was clearly near the top of the dam, you can 
still see the waterline.  There is a huge area of deposited debris 
around the back of the dam near the pipeline opening that allows water 
to escape underneath the dam.  The pipe itself is totally jammed with 
logs and debris.  Deep Creek is running fast, and has made a path thru 
the stuffed up pipeline.
The trail from the hiway parking area that used to be a road (asphalt 
chunks are still obvious) is undamaged.  Where that road ends the trail 
was underwater for at least half a mile.  The tread beside the river, 
behind the dam, is still deep mud with some standing water, and there 
are some fallen trees and brush blocking it that would be easily removed 
with saws and loppers.  Just past the spot where the Mojave River and 
Deep Creek meet, and run thru the pipe under the dam, the trail is 
covered by a deep debris field for about 400 feet, all the way to the 
creek crossing.  This debris field appears to be flotsam that floated 
down the two waterways and piled up here, behind the dam, and was 
deposited on the banks when the water drained off.  The debris consists 
of twigs, branches and logs up to a foot thick, interspersed with duff.  
It is a spongy surface and quite difficult to walk on.  At times my foot 
went in up to the ankle.  You could not cross this on a horse, but the 
horse could wade in the river to get around it.  There is also a lot of 
silt deposited, some of it brought downriver and some of it washed from 
the hillside, where there are signs of landslides. 
The Mojave River is slow and very wide, Deep Creek is still running 
fast.  The crossing was wider and faster than we were willing to make, 
so we have not yet surveyed the trail on the other side of the 
crossing.  The PCT signs on both sides of the crossing are still there.  
On the south side there is a brown "post" (that flat bendy stuff, 
whatdayacallit?) and on the north side there is a tall white post. 
It is still very wet and muddy in the area.  Not good for walking or for 
doing trail work. 
One could get around all the damage by hiking the top of the dam, or by 
wading the river.  But I would rather see the trail, as it existed, get 
fixed.  The biggest problem is that debris  pile.  It must be a couple 
feet deep,  400 feet long, about 50 feet wide.  Wow.
llamalady